


The Impossible Year

by JessC_32



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, Abuse, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Bottom Nico, Child Abuse, College, College Roommates, Cuddling, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hand Jobs, Hate turns to love, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Slow Burn, Smut, Stress, Top Percy, Underage Drinking, hand holding, roomate au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-24 02:49:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12003393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessC_32/pseuds/JessC_32
Summary: Nico has faced many problems in his life: an abusive dad, the death of his mother and older sister, and the fact that he is a homosexual. He thought that college would be a great escape from him and he'd finally be happy, but his past continues to haunt him. Will his new annoying roommate be able to help him through this complicated year, or will Nico become consumed by his the darkness within himself?





	1. The Invite

**Nico's POV**

By twelve o’clock, 3 hair scrunchies had already snapped. Praying to any deity Nico slowly tried to put up his hair once again. Holding his breath, he felt his pale fingers struggle to move through his knotted black hair.

_SNAP!_

“God dammit!” Nico yelled as he threw yet another scrunchie into the garbage. Looking in the mirror, Nico saw the same old ugly face. His horribly sharp nose, his dull brown eyes, his pasty olive skin, and the rat’s nest that was his hair. Quickly turning away, Nico shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Guess I’m going _au naturale_ yet again,” he huffed as he yanked his ratty Jansport over his shoulder heading to his one o’clock class.

Nico was currently enrolled at New Rome University in New York as an anthropology major. And he was hating every minute of it. For one, there was too many people, and the constant noise and crowdedness made Nico feel anxious to the point where he never wanted to leave his dorm room. Then, his schedule somehow managed to ruin the little social life he had managed to construct over the years. His classes managed to go from Monday to Friday and the all managed to occur at the most inconvenient times, to where when the school day was over he was either A) too tired of B) had too much homework to go out.

Then there was his roommate situation. Somehow the Department of Housing had managed to room him with the most irritating person he’s ever met−Perseus Jackson. The boy was a friggin’ ray of sunshine and had no respect for personal boundaries. Every morning he proceeded to wake up with the sunrise and stomp around their broom-closet of a dorm to get ready to head to the student rec center, managing to interrupt Nico’s already limited sleep. Then as the day naturally progresses, Perseus manages to pop up in random places and try to converse when Nico when Nico obviously wanted nothing to do with him. Plus, there was that stupid nickname he constantly called Nico, Neeks; just thinking about the name made him shudder. It was Perseus had nothing to do but make his life miserable, couldn’t he just ignore him like everyone else. _Was that too much to ask?_

Kicking a rock out of his path, Nico continued towards the Sans building where his Anthropology 2201 class was held. The air was uncomfortably humid and Nico could feel sweat drip slowly down the back of his neck. “Stupid, fuggin’ srunchie. Why’d they have to break today of all days?” mumbled Nico as he lifted his mop of hair trying desperately to cool down. His black jeans and jacket were a poor choice for today. _Why am I always such an idiot?_

Nico pulled his backpack higher up on his shoulder and kept walking, he had no time for self-pity he had to be on time today. His grades had slowly been slipping all semester because he somehow could not score well on his professor’s tests. He studied a week in advance for each test but still come test time it almost seemed like everything on the test was not taught in class or located anywhere in his reading. Each time a test was handed back he felt like even more of like the idiot he already knew he was.

Nico was about five minutes away from the Sans building when he felt a tap on his shoulder. _Why can’t people just leave me alone?_ Nico slowly turned and took out one of his headphones, “What?!” he snapped.

“Ah, hey Neeks no need to be so aggressive I just wanted to say Hey!”

Nico immediately rolled his eyes, just great he thought, Perseus. He managed to hide his annoyance with a half-smile as he shoved his fists into his jacket pockets.

“Hey Perseus, what can I do for you?”

“How many times do I have to say this, my name’s Percy, come on say it with me _Per-cy_ ,”                         

Nico groaned, “Ok then _Percy,_ ” elongating each syllable to where his voice dripped with sarcasm, “so I’ll ask again. What. Do. You. Want?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. You know I-uh just wanted to say hi and um ask if you wanted to go hang with some of my friends and I later tonight.” A smile began to spread over Percy’s face, and it wasn’t one of the perfect one’s he liked to flash at the girls that made them trip over themselves. It was a goofy, lopsided smile that made something inside Nico shift.

Nico quickly turned away as he felt his face begin to heat. _Dammit_. Why was he reacting this way? He didn’t like Perseus, he was annoying and arrogant and popular. He was everything Nico wanted to be but wasn’t. This only caused Nico’s face to heat up even more, he knew he had to get out of there he couldn’t let his roommate see him being weak.

Thinking fast Nico looked down at his watch to find an excuse to leave. Class didn’t start for another ten minutes but Perseus didn’t know that. Nico turned and started quickly walking towards the Sans Building.

“H-Hey where are you going?! Neeks you never answered my question!”

Waving his hand behind him Nico responded, “I’m going to be late for class, I have to go.”

“But we’ll still hang out, right?” His voice sounding a little farther away. Nico tripped on the uneven pavement determined to escape the situation without Perseus seeing his ugly ruddy red face.

“Y-Yeah, sure I’ll hang out Perseus, just leave me alone!” Nico called behind him. He shouldn’t feel this way, it wasn’t normal and he had never felt this way before. Stupid Perseus, stupid, stupid, stupid. He barely heard Percy yell that his name was Percy, he was lost in his thoughts. It had hit him that he had agreed to hang out with Perseus and his friends.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck._ What had he done? Why was he so stupid? He hated his roommate, how could he have agreed to hang out with him and his goon friends?! Why was he so stupid?

“Great job Nico,” he whispered to himself, “you just became an even bigger idiot.”

He tightened the straps of his backpack to try and distract himself from his thoughts. He was becoming self-destructive. He knew he deserved it, agreeing to hang out with his insufferable roommate was stupid. He had to study, he had to be better, and he wouldn’t get that way hanging out. What would he even do, socialize? Nico laughed at the thought.

He made it to the Sans Building in record time, his mind was so cluttered with his thoughts that he almost ran into the door. Pushing it open, the cool air from the AC made Nico groan in relief and return to reality. He was finally away from his roommate, and could distract himself from his most recent conversation by listening to his professor drone on about Anthropology for the next two hours.

Nico entered room 316 with 3 minutes left before class started. He took his usual seat in the far-right corner in the front of the room. His professor had yet to arrive so Nico took the time to pull out his phone to check for any notifications. Like he had any, he thought to himself.

But to his surprise there was one notification.

Perseus: **See you tonight (;**

_Fuck me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys thanks for reading. I'll hopefully be updating soon, kudos and comments are always appreciated! And as a heads up the themes of this story later on will get darker so tags, ratings, and warnings may change.
> 
> Thanks so much!


	2. Preperations

**PERCY'S POV**

“Holy shit he actually said yes!” Percy whispered excitedly to himself as he turned to head back to his dorm. He had tried to get Nico to hang out with him for months now, but for some reason Nico never would. It almost seemed like the small Italian didn’t like him, but that couldn’t possibly be the case.

 _I must be imagining things._ Percy shook his head, trying to clear his head. He needed to focus, there was a list of things he needed to get done for tonight. First he needed to head over to the Office of Admissions to help lead a guided tour for the misguided high schoolers who thought it was a good idea to attend here, then to finish up his oceanography essay on coral bleaching and ocean acidification which he had barely started on, and lastly to go pick up drinks and snacks for tonight.

Quickly pulling out his phone Percy sent a quick text to Nico:

**See you tonight (;**

He knew that this would get a rise out of his roommate, and chuckled to himself. Checking the time quickly Percy noticed that it was already 2:55, with his next student tour starting at 3:00.

“Shit!” Percy screeched as he began sprinting across the campus green. Hopefully the opening presentation for the students ran over again. He noticed other students giving him weird looks as he frantically ran past them.

“Percy what’s up my man?” He heard a voice yell from his left.

He wanted to stop and talk to whoever yelled but all he could do was yell back as he dodged a girl on a bike, “I’m running out of time!”

Seven minutes later, he arrived at the Office of Admissions disheveled and out of breath.

“Wow seaweed brain, late again I see.”

He looked up only to see Annabeth smirking at him from across the room.

“Shut up wise girl, I made it didn’t I?!”

The door to the auditorium opened and droves of high schoolers and their parents begin to file out.

“Barely,” Annabeth huffed as she strolled away calling out the names of the kids in her tour group.

“ _Barely…”_ Percy mimicked and he rolled his eyes as he smoothed out his wrinkled shirt and tried to quickly corral all of his kids and their parents. Generally, Percy was a great tour guide. He was great at keeping the high schoolers attention and was able to answer most of their questions, besides a few strange comments that he could barely answer with a straight. For example a few weeks ago a kid walked up to him and asked why no one was smiling on campus. It took everything he had within himself to not reply that everyone was dying on the inside and hated everything, and after a few moments to regain is composure was able to reply that midterms were happening this week and that everyone was stressed.

His main problem was the parents. They tended to always bother him, always asking the same questions while also being condescending. Yes, the center of campus was safe. How did he know? Because he’s been a student here for 2 years! They always knew the right way to ruin his mood.

After 1 hour of walking in heat, Percy walked the families back to the admissions office.

“Well I had a great time getting to know all of you, hopefully I’ll see all of you back here soon!”

After answering a few last minute questions, he was finally free. Looking at his phone it was now 4:15, and that he had one text notification.

Neeks: **Hey when you go to the store can you pick up more diet coke for me, seeing that you drank all of mine!**

Rolling his eyes, Percy quickly typed a response. If he didn’t want him to drink the soda all he had to do was label it.

**Of course! I am your humble servant would you like anything else? McDonalds? The hearts of your enemies?**

Percy smirked as he pressed send, he knew that would rile the other boy up. It was always fun to see Nico annoyed, because his entire face turns red and he adorably fumbles over his comebacks. He honestly has nothing against the Italian, it’s just how he acted with all of his friends. People always saw his as a charismatic person, why would Nico be any different? His phone vibrated again and he saw a new text notification appear.

Neeks: **\- _ -  Just get me my freaking coke, Perseus.**

 _Fine._ Not bothering to respond, Percy shoved the phone into his pocket and started walking over to the bus stop to head over to the store. All he needed for this party was to purchase the alcohol and some mixers. Jason and the others were supposed to be bringing some snacks, even though he knew the only people that would actually bring something was Jason, Annabeth, and Frank. The nerds. A grin slowly formed on his face as he thought about his friends, it had been about a month and a half since all of them had been together. They all seemed to have extremely busy semesters this year, and it was hard to plan out events that everyone could attend but they somehow managed to do it.

Once he made it to the store, Percy walked down to the liquor section. All he needed were the basics, some Vodka, Fireball, and beer would do the trick. Maybe some wine for Annabeth since she disliked the taste of most alcohol, and said that she had a more “refined” palette then the rest of us. _Sounds like a bunch of BS._ Adding the liquor to his basket he headed over to the sodas and 2 liter drinks. Picking up some pink lemonade and sprite as mixers, Percy began to walk over to checkout.

As he was placing his items on the conveyor belt, Percy realized he forgot Nico’s coke. “Shit” he mumbled under his breath. Turning to the man behind him he gave a sheepish smile and said, “Hey man, I forgot something I’ll be right back.” Not waiting for a response he sprinted through the store looking for a 12 pack of diet coke.

“Found you!!” Percy screamed as he grabbed the pack off of the self. Turning he saw a mother and her child starring at him. Flashing a smile, Percy dashed back to the register. Placing it along with his other items, he tried to catch his breath.

The cashier glared at him, “Got everything this time?”

“Uh… yeah.”

“Then your total is $45.82. Planning a party or something?” she said gesturing to all the alcohol she was bagging.

“Yeah!” Percy exclaimed as he swiped his credit card, “And it’s going to be amazing!”

He then grabbed his bags, and headed out the door to get ready to set up. It was now almost 6, that gave him about two and a half hours to get everything ready and the rest of his work done. _Easy as pie_.

Now at the bus stop, Percy stopped and looked out at the crowded street and smiled.

He then took a deep breath and yelled, “Tonight is going to be amazing!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Sorry it's been almost a year since I posted a chapter! I started college and it kicked my ass, and I took a break from writing. I am happy to say that I am finally motivated again to write and will hopefully be posting more frequently from now on!
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


	3. Worst That Could Happen

“Tonight is going to suck…” Nico mumbled under his breath as he sat hunched over his computer screen. He had returned from class early, for some reason his Professor decided to release them from hell 30 minutes early, and after walking through the scorching heat, all he had wanted was some of the Diet Coke he had bought the previous week and to start working on a lab report due next week for Chemistry.

Unfortunately, all of his Coke had mysteriously vanished. _Stupid ass Perseus, he could’ve at least asked._  After sending Percy a text to bring him back his coke, he grabbed water and started working on his lab calculations. It should’ve been easy it was some simple stoichiometry, but for some reason he couldn’t figure out the correct conversions. _I’m such an idiot, this is EASY high school freshman do this shit._ Running both hands through his tangled hair, Nico sighed. He knew he needed to get this done, his lab grade was already suffering enough one more poor grade and he’d probably fail Chemistry.

Nico continuously attempted to complete his work for the next hour and a half to no avail.

“Fuck it!” Nico yelled as he threw his notebook onto the ground with a loud thud. _I’ll just go to office hours tomorrow and let Dr. D know that I’m a fucking idiot._

He then closed his laptop and began to reorganize his desk to help calm his nerves. For some reason Nico always felt calmer after moving everything back to its proper place on his desk. He once spent 2 hours organizing his pens by shade to help calm him after a particularly hard test that he knew he failed. Only to have Percy come in 20 minutes later and ruin his hard work by snatching up a large handful of them so he could make a crib sheet for one of his classes.

Looking at his watch he saw that Percy should be back any minute; hopefully with his diet coke in hand. Pushing out his chair Nico got up and walked out of his room and into the kitchen area of his dorm. Not a single day goes by that Nico isn’t amazed that he managed to snag this two person apartment style dorm as a freshman. It’s only ever happened a few times in the school’s history and he could see why, the only reason he got it was because the school took more freshman than they had housing and this was one of the few places he could find with a room open. The only down side was that he had to room with Perseus, the living hurricane, who left every room he entered a mess when he left.

Nico had to admit that Perseus wasn’t a horrible roommate. He usually gave Nico his space and would help with the groceries and cooking. However it always felt that Percy wanted Nico’s attention no matter whether it was good or bad. Whether it left Nico red-faced and flustered or red-faced and frustrated, any action Percy could think of that would cause a reaction from Nico he performed. And it was the most irritating thing in the world to Nico, why was this guy always trying to talk to him when he was clearly trying to _avoid_ him.

As Nico sat on their blanket covered couch the door swung open.

“Hey Neeks!!” Percy bellowed as he entered the room backwards, “I have the groceries!”

“Do you have to yell Perseus, this place isn’t that big you know.”

Percy pouted, “But what if you were wearing headphones? How would you hear me then?”

“I wouldn’t have to hear you, I can feel your annoying presence from a mile away.”

Percy chuckled and practically dropped the bags onto the kitchen counter. Nico could hear the glass booze bottles clang against each other.

“Sure hope you didn’t break any of those bottles, dumbass.”

Rubbing the back of his head Percy nervously laughed, “I hope so too, and I am a bit of a dumbass wasn’t I?”

Nico could feel his face begin to heat up, clearing his throat he replied, “Yeah maybe just a little bit…you got my coke?”

A grin spread across Percy’s face as he lifted up a 12 pack, “You bet your ass I do!”

“Fuck yessss,” Nico groaned as he got up to snatch a can of liquid gold from his roommate’s hand and run back to his spot on the couch.

“When is everyone coming over?”

“Uhhh, maybe an hour or two? I’m not too sure.”

“How are you not sure?! Didn’t you plan this party?”

“Yeah but you know Jason and the guys; I can’t control them!”

Nico snorted and popped the tab to his soda, “Figures…”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Percy pouted.

“Nothing,” Nico said as he took a sip of his coke and glanced at Percy. He was fumbling with his groceries trying to get ready for the party. Hopefully not many people were going to come, Nico was fine if it was just the usual suspects: Jason, Piper, Frank, Leo, and Annabeth. Nico had never been to one of Percy’s parties, but he had heard that they sometimes got out of hand. He wasn’t exactly sure what that entailed but he didn’t plan to find out. All he really wanted to do was hang out with his step sister Hazel if she decided to show up with her boyfriend, Frank and then to quietly escape to his room if anything got out of hand.

“Hey Neeks?!” Percy called, “Could you come help me get ready for tonight; I need to do some work before everyone comes.”

Sighing Nico replied, “Why did you wait until the last minute again?”

He stood up wrapping his blanket around his shoulders and walked into the kitchen.

“I don’t know. I thought there was more time!”

“You always say that when will you learn how to manage his time right?”

“At this point I’m going to say **_never_**.”

Nico chuckled and started opening some of the chips Percy bought and setting them out on the counter, while Percy quickly pulled out his laptop and started doing some work.

“Makes sense, you do seem pretty helpless.”

“I mean maybe I’d be able to provide for myself if I didn’t have someone sweet like you taking care of me,” Percy laughed in a sing-song voice as he leaned against the counter and batted his eyes at Nico.

 _What the fuck? Who the hell does he think he is?_ Nico could feel his face heating up, why would he say that to him? Was he just trying to get a rise out of him? Why does he think this is okay to say? What the fuck? What the fuck? What the fu-

**_POP!_ **

Nico jumped and then realized he was squeezing a bag of Doritos so hard that he had popped a hole in the bottom, causing the majority of the chips to spill across the counter and the floor.

“Dude what the hell?!” Percy yelled, “Why would you do that? You okay?”

Nico released the bag in his hands and frantically started to clean up the mess he created.

“Ye-Yeah I’m fine; just a little lost in thought.”

“Yeah I could tell. You sure you’re good, you seem a little upset.”

Percy reached out to put a hand on Nico’s shoulder, but Nico quickly moved away.

“Don’t touch me; I said I’m fine!”

Percy quickly retracted his hand, “Oookay…”

Nico rubbed his face. He could feel tears begin to form in his eyes and his face become hot. What was wrong with him? Why did he deserve to constantly live through being embarrassed by Percy and others?

Nico shook his head. He could handle this, he just needed a little distraction. Looking around his eyes zeroed in on the beer. Perfect.

“Percy can I take on of those beers?”

Percy looked up from his computer, “I mean sure dude take whatever you’d like.”

Nodding Nico turned and quickly grabbed a beer, popping the top he took a sip. He grimaced. It kind of tasted like piss but he could deal with it, anything to distract him from his thoughts. Looking at the can he noticed it was only 4.2% alcohol. Nico shrugged his shoulders and took another drink. Nico wasn’t anything close to an expert on alcohol but 4.2% seemed pretty low. He could definitely have some more later, what’s the worst that could happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note sure how I feel about this chapter. I may go back and edit this later because I'm not super pleased.
> 
> Kudos and Comments are always appreciated!


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